Original Madden Developer Lawsuit Will Go To Trial

A federal judge has ruled that the case against Electronic Arts, by the developer of the original John Madden Football, will proceed to trial. Robin Antonick alleges he was the designer and developer of the original computer-based Madden NFL, and is thus owed “millions in unpaid royalties, punitive damages and disgorgement of all profits arising from the $5 billion Madden NFL franchise.” The trial for the case will begin June 17th, 2013.

According to the lawsuit, EA and Antonick signed an agreement in 1986 which requires EA to pay Antonick royalties on all derivative works of the original EA Madden, including the current annual releases. The lawsuit also claims EA has failed to pay Antonick millions of dollars in royalties, and failed to keep his work confidential, which was required in the agreement.

“We have very compelling evidence indicating that EA used Mr. Antonick’s ground-breaking code and design elements as the basis for both past and present Madden NFL titles,” said Robert Carey, Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP partner and one of Antonick’s attorneys. “Yet, EA has failed to compensate him as required by his agreement or give him proper credit for his work. We look forward to proving our case at trial, and we are very confident that we will prevail.”

Antonick is also represented by Leonard Aragon of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP and Stuart Paynter of the Paynter Law Firm. More information about the case can be found at Antonick’s legal team’s website.